Seth Vigdor
Shayne Gostisbehere, who leads rookie defensemen with seven goals will miss at least the Flyers’ next game. General manager Ron Hextall made the announcement on Friday. Gostisbehere suffered the injury when he took a knee to knee hit from Mikko Koivu late in the first period against Minnesota on Thursday.
This news comes as a huge blow to the Flyers as Gostisbehere has been amazing on the Philadelphia blue line this season. There is no timetable for his return at the moment. The 17-15 Flyers go up against the 22-14 second place Islanders in a Metropolitan division showdown on Saturday afternoon.
Per Ron Hextall: Shayne Gostisbehere will not play in Saturday’s game vs. NYI w/ a lower-body injury. Another update will come on Saturday.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 8, 2016
Defenseman Michael Del Zotto had this to say about Gostisbehere’s injury.
“It definitely is a big loss to the team. We have healthy bodies in place and there are opportunities for other guys to step in and contribute.”
Jake Voracek, who is a member of the first power-play unit with Gostisbehere also addressed the injury.
“It happens. [Gostisbehere] is a great player, but we have a great defense and we played half a game with five defensemen so I don’t think it would be any different if [Gostisbehere] was playing. One goal was after a turnover, the second goal was after a bad luck bounce.”
Meanwhile Flyers’ goaltender Steve Mason touched on the importance of Gostisbehere to the team.
“He’s just got a different skill set that not many players have. He’s extremely shifty, sees the ice well. He’s got a really high reward, high risk type of game to him, but you can just see when he has an opportunity he can make plays that not many guys can. He has a way of putting the puck through traffic and finding the net. It’s nice to see a guy that’s young coming in and playing with confidence like he is.”
With the next update on his injury coming on Saturday, let’s just hope he only misses one game. To go along with his seven goals on the season, Gostisbehere has nine assists and is definitely living up to the hype.